Conversion Funnel Analysis in China: Optimizing the consumer journey online

What is a conversion funnel? It describes the customer journey, from the first touchpoint with a business, such as an Internet ad, until finally making a purchase. The word “funnel” illustrates the number of navigation options as well as the successive steps transforming visitors or leads into converted customers. Daxue Consulting team analyses conversion funnels by breaking down these steps and collecting metrics on consumers going through, or exiting the user journey, at each step. It leads to the performance mapping and suggested upgrade of the 4 objectives of an user journey set up:

1. awareness,
2. acquisition,
3. conversion, and
4. finally retention.

Matthieu David-Experton, CEO and founder of Daxue Consulting, explains: “Conversion funnel analysis in China is fundamental to assess which users are close to buying, at which point they are dropping off, and determining consumers who are out of scope.” It is crucial for businesses to adapt its online sales channels and websites to the needs of Chinese consumers and optimizing it for mobile devices is essential for success.

The client’s goal: not only attract but also encourage users to take actions

Daxue Consulting’s client, an international luxury hotel chain operating in China, though observing a large number of visitors on their website, experienced only very low conversion. Therefore, the group approached Daxue Consulting to conduct a conversion funnel analysis in China to be able to take adequate actions and detect the website’s critical stage from where Chinese visitors drop off.

A tailor-made project for the client in the hospitality industry

David-Experton stresses the importance of the various aspects to consider: “Optimization is crucial, especially for sectors such as the hotel industry. Easy access and handling are necessary and the structure regarding price and time, for instance, must be clear to the user.”

Thus, Daxue’s research team prepared a tailor-made project for the conversion funnel analysis in China. As a first step, Daxue Consulting started with evaluating visibility, availability, and functionality of the client’s website by utilizing the following behavioral quantitative UX research methods:

• Usability testing: The participants were asked to complete a particular set of tasks at the clients’ website, while the research team observed their behavior, rated the success and time. Thus, Daxue Consulting could identify at which stage the end-users had troubles or needed to ask questions.
• Clickstream Analysis (mouse tracking, click and scroll testing): As to support the test, the research team made use of specialized equipment to record the screen activity, to track which element attracted the attention of end-users and which one they ignored. Through interactive heat maps, Daxue could observe which areas on the page appeared inviting to the users and where the pain points of the website had been.
• Benchmark against competitors’ sites including relevant performance indicators such as time spent on the website
• Analyze the loss of users related to a high number of pages

Conversion Funnel Analysis in China: Daxue Consulting also employed a specific software which enabled the consultants to gain detailed insights into each stage of the funnel. It showed, for example, which field in the online form, had the highest bounce rate. Thus, it allowed the team to identify the most influential touch points, as well as the critical funnel stages. However, the software could not show the reason why users were backing out: It might be because users could not cope with the field properly, or because they didn’t want to give the required information there.

Therefore, Daxue Consulting additionally organized focus groups with the end-users to get an understanding of why they were dropping off. The group discussions gave our research team deep knowledge of the consumers’ decision-making process and expectations, as well as insights into attitudinal metrics, such as perception of the website’s credibility, loyalty, and appearance.

Daxue Consulting prioritized the critical aspects and answered the following key questions:

• What makes people click or buy?
• What are the website’s ROI (Return on Investment) hotspots?
• How can we get people to stay on the site longer?

Then, the team prepared the alternative test variant with the client and applied A/B testing to compare different design versions of the website. The software tools showed the impact of the modifications on the behavior of the visitors in the funnel, such as employing marketing automation, for instance. 

The conversion funnel analysis in China reduced the client’s drop off rates

Daxue Consulting could detect the concerns of end-users when interacting with the website. Thus, the consultants were able to give recommendations what changes in which section to undertake and provided the client with statistically analyzed forecasts of end-users’ behavior. Through the conversion funnel analysis in China, the research team could not only reduce the website’s drop off rates, but it also excited end-users about the offers and increased the overall conversion by adapting its online channels to Chinese needs and expectations.

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